Commanders and pilots of vehicles such as aircraft have the task of not only managing the complex systems of the aircraft but also operating the aircraft in a safe and efficient manner. In this regard, cockpit flight crews such as pilots are presented with myriad of information that they must manage, interpret, and ultimately utilize in making their decisions and executing their tasks based on those decisions. The required decision-making proficiency generally involves specialized training and qualifications that vary as a function of aircraft type, the capability level of the aircraft's systems and equipment, the route, the airport, and even the approved approach procedure for a particular airport under certain conditions. This is especially the case for critical phases of flight when such decisions may be made in a matter of seconds.
The final approach phase is one of the most critical and highest workload of flight phases. When executing a final approach and landing, pilots have to manage various types of information to make the landing decision and ultimately land the aircraft. For example, one type of information, typically provided on paper such as Jeppesen approach charts, may be related to the airport's runway, the approach attributes such as approach minima, and visibility requirements for deciding to land the aircraft or aborting the landing. Thus, pilots have to retain or be able to quickly recall this information as they are executing the final approach and landing.
Furthermore, to fly an approach using an aircraft with modern complex systems and equipment, pilots must find, interpret, and sometimes cross-check information from multiple sources. In this regard, among decision variables that pilots have to keep track of are the states of the aircraft's systems and equipment needed for the type of landing that the crew is executing. For example, in certain modern jet aircraft such as a Boeing 777, if the autopilot is commanded not only to fly the aircraft to the runway but also to land the aircraft in low visibility conditions, all three of the autopilot systems have to be operational. If only two are operational, then the autopilot can take the aircraft to an approved approach minima above ground for the particular approach where the pilot must acquire the runway environment visually to continue the automatic landing, or otherwise execute a missed approach. Thus, pilots have to monitor the aircraft's systems, understand the systems' status information reported to them, cross-check the status information reported from various systems and information sources, and make sure that, ultimately, their decisions are consistent with the aircraft's systems' health and capabilities.
The flight crew's task of monitoring the aircraft's systems involves managing, displaying, and supervising various systems such as navigation radios, flight management computers, flight control computers, datalink systems, and display systems. Often, the information is displayed at various locations in the aircraft such as Primary Flight Displays (PFD), Navigation Displays (ND), Mode Control Panels (MCP), Control Display Units (CDU), and Crew Alerting Displays, as well as in printed form such as Jeppesen's approach charts (Note: Jeppesen is a trademark of Jeppesen Sanderson, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both). In addition, further information may be found in the Airplane's Flight Manual (AFM) and the airplane's Flight Crew Operation Manual (FCOM).
The need to monitor and utilize these different information sources and the information therein contributes to a heavy workload, and potentially to errors. Pilots have to accomplish substantial planning tasks, management tasks, and more importantly the integration task of pulling together system information to come up with operationally-relevant information necessary for the decision to land the aircraft or to abort the landing. These tasks are especially demanding when, for example, there is an equipment failure during final approach whereby the landing performance capability of the aircraft degrades and pilots have to interpret the equipment failure in terms of its impact on continued execution of the landing.
Such degradation can be due to equipment failure onboard the aircraft, for example, involving navigation or autopilot systems, or off board the aircraft, for example involving signal degradation or loss pertaining to a navigation or landing aid system such as Global Positioning System (GPS) or an Instrument Landing System (ILS). In either case, in a matter of seconds, the pilot must recognize the failure and its impact on landing performance capability and make the critical decision involving (1) whether or not continue the landing and, if so (2) whether to take over and hand-fly to touchdown or to continue an automatic landing.
Thus, there is a need for a tool that simplifies the flight crew's critical decisions during the approach phase of flight by providing well-integrated and operationally-relevant information without the need to find and monitor such information that is currently provided by paper charts and by various systems at multiple locations in the flight deck.